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No. 11 Huskies Escape Tempe With Narrow Victory

TEMPE, Ariz. - Freshman Rich Alexis scored on an 86-yard run andWashington set up two TDs by blocking a punt and recovering one of the game'snine lost fumbles as the No. 11 Huskies escaped with a 21-15 victory overArizona State on Saturday night.

Washington (5-1, 2-1 Pac-10) fumbled the ball away five times, four in itsown territory, but the Sun Devils (1-2, 4-2) only could convert the mistakesinto field goals of 27 and 24 yards by Mike Barth.

The game featured mistakes of almost every imaginable variety.

Each team had six turnovers. The Sun Devils were intercepted twice and theHuskies once. Arizona State also blocked a field- goal attempt. The Sun Devilsgot a safety when the Huskies were called for holding in their own end zone.

The safety with 5:08 to play cut the lead to 21-8. After the free kick,Krohn threw 45 yards to Justin Taplin to the Washington 10, then threw a 4-yardtouchdown pass on Todd Heap to make it 21-15 with three minutes to go. But theSun Devils never got the ball back.

The Huskies' offense had managed only scoring drives of 5 yards afterfreshman Matt Cooper's blocked punt and 14 yards after Arizona State fumbledaway a punt return before Alexis broke free up the middle on his 86-yarder thatmade it 21-6 with 12:29 to play.

With Arizona State leading 6-0, Cooper blocked Nick Murphy's punt, then fellon the ball at the Sun Devils' 5. Cooper graduated from high school in nearbyGilbert and is the son of Bruce Cooper, a sportscaster at KPNX-TV in Phoenix.

Two plays later, Tuiasosopo threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to Wondame Davisto put Washington up 7-6 with 5:45 left in the half.

Arizona State threatened to take the lead early in the third quarter whenDerrick Johnson fumbled a punt return and the Sun Devils' Christon Rancerecovered at the Washington 33.

But on third-and-7 at the Huskies' 20, Krohn fumbled under intense pressure.Washington's Tyler Krambrick recovered and rambled 23 yards to the ArizonaState 38 before he fumbled, too. Wilbur Hooks recovered for the Huskies at the38. Washington's threat fizzled when John Anderson's 36-yard field-goal attemptwas blocked by Mike Pinkard.